Timeline: How China’s protests gained momentum

STORY: A timeline of how China’s protests gained momentum

Nov. 14:

Guangzhou protests

In chaotic scenes, crowds crash through COVID barriers in one of China’s largest cities

to express public anger over coronavirus curbs

Nov. 23:

Foxconn protests

Violent tussles begin at Foxconn’s flagship iPhone plant in the city of Zhengzhou

The trigger for the protests appears to have been a plan to delay bonus payments

Resentment had been brewing as workers fled the plant after tightened COVID rules

Nov. 24:

Urumqi fire

10 people are killed in a partially locked down high-rise building

The incident went viral on Chinese social media, with many believing residents could not escape

Nov. 25:

Urumqi protests

Crowds took to the streets at night in Urumqi, chanting 'End the lockdown!'

Nov. 26:

Urumqi vigil

A peaceful candle-lit vigil is held in Shanghai in which protesters commemorated the dead

Since then, protests have flared in across the country

in a wave of civil disobedience unprecedented since President Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago

Many protestors have held blank sheets of paper as a sign of dissent at censorship in China

At almost every site, protestors have called for an end to China’s onerous COVID prevention policies